Review Summary: Well done deathcore, but it all sounds the same and the creativity begins to lack after a few tracks.
All deatcore feels and sounds the same, especially in today's world of repitition and lack of creativity. Bands seem to feel that if their drummer can nail double bass, their screamer can chug and they can hit a cymbal melodically to create a breakdown, then theyre going to succeed in the deathcore genre. All this is not true. It's hard work to create good deathcore music, to seperate yourselves from the endless numbers of deathcore bands out there that attempt to be the best.
Originating in Mexico, Here Comes the Kraken is true stand out deathcore. It's impressive, technical and brutal, everything to make a good deathcore album. Their self-titled debut is nothing more than impressive, they have managed to step up the technicality a bit and there I give them credit. It's a surprise to me to find that one of the best deathcore bands I've ever heard are from Mexico, since this is the only Mexican band I've ever listened to. The songs on this album are very brutal, each song having a few impressive breakdowns and very good drum and guitar sections. The drumming is simply fantastic and the guitar work is beautiful at times, so what else makes this album worth the listen?
After the intro to the album, 'Dont Fail Me Darko' begins. The first thing noticed is the drumming, it's fast and very impressive. That's not the only thing good about this song though, the vocalist seems to do nothing more then just chug chug his way through the verses, but as the song continues his highs are raw and actually really good. There are a few breakdowns in this song alone, each one being better than the last, and theyre not just average no fret breakdowns, a tricky guitar line would float in the background and it makes the sound that much more impressive to listen to.
'Into the Slaughter Basement' is a very fast song, it's got plenty of tricky guitar riffs and it seems as if it will never slow down. The vocalist continues to push out the lows through the fast beat of the song, but here he does nothing more than those lows. We get greeted with a few highs, but I wouldve liked to hear them more. Yet again, there is a lot of good breakdowns, each one being a little different than the last, but the album already feels to be repeating itself.
There is no real music variation through this album, there's alot of guitar work, lots of fast drumming and chug vocals, but after we get past the first 4 songs on the album, it all sounds the same. I know I said earlier that this is one of the best deathcore bands I've ever heard, and that's true, but if the album is listened to straight through it feels like were hearing the same song over and over again. This is a problem with most deathcore bands, they change the pace a bit in each song but that main sound stays there and everything feels a tad bit repetitive and overdone.
Here Comes the Kraken surely impresses with their debut, and they have new songs out and hopefully a new album soon, but they need to learn to spread that sound out over the length of the album. After the 5th track, everything sounds the same and thats not good, I like to hear a band do different things through each song, not keep that solid sound throughout. This is a good album, it's good deathcore, but a listen straight through gets a little tiring after a few tracks.
